I Love You Because
by B13Bren
Summary: Myka thinks Helena is avoiding her but she's in for a surprise. (One-shot)


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Warehouse 13 or any of their characters or anything really.

**AN:** So I was starting to write the new chapter of Cut You a Piece but I wrote this instead. Hopefully you'll like it and don't be shy and leave a comment if you do. Or if you don't, that's fine too.

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><p>Myka stomped into the warehouse office and flopped down onto a chair, mumbling to herself. Pete looked at the display with a raised eyebrow. He debated saying something while he finished his sandwich. Myka rarely ever got mad, and when she did it was because either he had done something stupid, which he was pretty sure he hadn't, or something had happened with Helena. He took one last gulp from his cream soda and brushed off the crumbs that had fallen on the front of his shirt. Myka was still on the chair with her arms crossed in front of her and a frown firmly set on her face. Her lips were moving but the words that came out from them, if any, were too low for him to hear. He balled up his sandwich wrapper and stood up to throw it away, sitting back down on a chair closer to Myka. "Is everything okay, Mykes?"<p>

Myka looked up at him like she hadn't noticed he was in the same room as her and tried to look normal but didn't quite manage to get rid of the frown. "Everything's okay. Why wouldn't it be? Everything's just great."

Pete sat back in his chair with a skeptical look. He didn't have to be Steve to know she was lying but he would let it go. If Myka wanted to talk about it she would. "Okaaaay…"

She looked at him and her frown deepened, her teeth pressed lightly on her lower lip. "She's just so confusing!"

Pete was taken aback by the outburst. He opened his mouth to ask who she was talking about, even though he was fairly sure it was Helena, when Myka had stood up and started pacing around the office, ignoring Pete.

"I mean, she has this way of looking at me that, no matter where we are and how many people are in the room, it makes me feel like we're the only two people in the universe." Pete was glad he had waited to finish his lunch before he started this conversation or he would've choked at her words. He had seen the look she was referring to, he had also seen Myka's look in return, and he knew Myka and HG had unresolved feelings for one another but Myka had never talked about them or acknowledged them in any way. He pressed his lips closed tightly. He was afraid that if he said something Myka would remember he was there and stop talking so he just sat there, watching her pace.

"And sometimes it seems like without think about it, we gravitate towards each other. Like when we're doing inventory we somehow always end up in the same aisle even though we start in completely different sides of the warehouse. And she's always touching me! And she tries to be nonchalant about it and act like she could not wait to reach for that artifact on the shelf right in front of me. Like it was so urgent that waiting for me to move was not an option and she has to press herself behind me and invade my senses with her incredibly soft skin and her amazing smell. And she thinks I don't notice her smirk when she hears my breath hitch whenever she does that but I do and I don't mind. I really don't mind her doing all of this because I figured she would take the next step at some point. Because you do not do all of that unless you want something more, right?"

He sat there gaping at her, not really sure if he was expected to answer or not. But the pleading look in Myka's eyes told him some sort of affirmative response was expected of him. He stood up and walked towards Myka and holding her by her elbows in what he hoped was a comforting gesture while trying to come with the appropriate response. "I think she does want something more, Mykes. I mean, it's not like either of you have talked to me about your feelings for one another... until now. But I think it's fairly clear that she has feelings for you. What happened?"

Myka sighed and looked down at her feet. "This morning I asked her if she wanted to do inventory together, you know, to save time, and she said she was working on something with Claudia. But later I bumped into Claudia and when I asked her about Helena, she said she hadn't seen her all day. And then, when I went to ask her if she wanted to have lunch, she just yelled no from behind the door to her workshop! She didn't even bother to open the door and tell it to my face." She threw her hands up and walked away, sitting back down on the chair she was previously occupying.

"Hey," Pete walked over and knelt down in front of her. "you know how Claudia and HG get when they're working on something, it's not personal, they just get uber-focused and forget everything else. I'm sure she'll go back to shamelessly flirting with you when she's done with whatever it is she's doing."

He was looking up smiling at her and didn't look away until she smiled back, even though it didn't reach her eyes. She nodded and looked back down at her hands. Pete cocked his head to the side debating whether he should say something else. He rarely ever saw Myka so distressed and he didn't like it. He took a deep breath and covered her hands with his own. "Have you considered telling her how you feel?"

Myka looked up at him, her eyes as big as plates. She shook her hair, her curls quivering at the action. "I can't."

Pete gave her hand a short squeeze and got up. "Alright, Mykes, but you can't expect her to read your mind."

Myka was pacing in her room at the B&B. She had not seen Helena for the rest of the day until it was time to go home when she had walked into the office like she hadn't been cooped up in her workshop for the entire day ignoring Myka. She'd sat on the desk she was working on while they waited for the rest of the team to get to the office so they could leave. Myka successfully ignored her despite Helena's obvious attempts to get her attention. She'd stared at her and, when it was clear Myka wasn't going to look up, she'd started walking her fingers up and down the edge of the desk getting close to Myka's arm but not touching her. When that hadn't worked, she leaned back on her elbows, covering almost the entirety of the space in front of Myka without covering the actual file she was working on. When Claudia finally entered the office, Myka quickly got up and exited through the umbilicus, leaving a stunned Helena and a frowning Pete behind.

Dinner had passed in relative silence. Claudia and Steve were unaware of the current mood hanging over their friends and chatted happily about some television show, Helena kept attempting to catch Myka's eyes and sighed every time she purposefully ignored her, and Pete just glared at Myka whenever she looked at him, sometimes motioning at Helena with his head.

She knew she was being childish. Helena hadn't actually done anything to her, except maybe lie to her but she was sure she had a perfectly good explanation for that. And it hadn't really been a big lie; she was clearly working on something, maybe she just decided she didn't need Claudia's help after all. Pete was right, of course she'd never tell him that, but she had never voiced her feelings to Helena; she couldn't expect her to know that she would be bothered by her dismissal.

However, she couldn't be the first to acknowledge this thing between them. She had been hurt too many times, a couple of which had been caused by Helena, and she wasn't about to put herself out there to have her heart crushed once again. So, she was going to wait for Helena to come to her. At least she could salvage a tiny bit of her dignity if she never came.

The knock on her door made her stop mid stride facing away from the door. She held her breath; maybe if she didn't make a sound whoever was at her door would just go away. She winced when the second knock came and the unmistakable British accent floated through the door. "Myka, I heard you pacing, I know you're in there."

Myka let go of the breath she was holding and turned towards the door. She opened it a few inches and looked at Helena, her eyebrows raised in silent question. She saw Helena hesitate for a second before she spoke. "I was wondering if I could talk to you… preferably not in the hallway."

Helena's hand shot up and held the door open in case Myka thought about closing it in her face and retreating back into her room before she had a chance to talk to her. Myka looked at her hand and then back at her face. She sighed heavily and opened the door fully, motioning to her to come in.

She debated whether to leave the door open, finding the thought of being alone in such a small space with Helena suffocating, but she finally decided to close it. She leaned against it with her eyes closed and counted to three before looking up at Helena who was sitting on her bed looking serious. Helena waited until she was sure she had Myka's attention before she spoke. "Myka, I believe I have done something to upset you but I'm not sure what exactly that was."

Myka looked down at her feet. "Why made you think that?"

Helena gave her a small smile and nervously rearranged a box she had placed on the bed next to her. The noise made Myka look up and she wondered briefly what it could be but Helena looked up at her again and the intensity in her eyes made her forget everything else. "You've been ignoring me."

She could almost hear the pout in her voice and she unconsciously pushed away from the door and walked towards Helena, stopping close enough to reach out and touch her but far enough away so that she could move away if she had to. "I could say the same thing." It didn't sound as reproachful as Myka thought it would and when Helena looked up at her confused she chuckled, the look so completely innocent and honest that it made her realize how ridiculous she was being. "I'm sorry, I was being childish. I thought you were avoiding me when you told me you didn't want to do inventory with me and then when I went to get you for lunch."

Understanding flashed across Helena's face. She reached out and grabbed Myka's hand. "I wasn't avoiding you, I was working on something."

"I know, you don't need to explain. I overreacted." Myka looked down at their clasped hands. She didn't understand how such a small touch could be so reassuring to her. She turned Helena's hand in hers and ran her fingers along her palm, absentmindedly drawing patters on the soft skin and smiling softly.

Helena looked at her, studying the way Myka seemed to be completely content standing there touching her. Myka bit her lower lip and looked up, green eyes locking on brown. The love she found on Helena's gaze took her breath away and her fingers stilled. "Helena." The name escaped her lips softly, barely above a whisper and brought Helena out of her reverie.

She removed her hand from under Myka's and grabbed the box next to her. "I was working on this." Myka took the box and sat on the bed next to Helena. She looked up, asking for permission to open it and Helena nodded. She opened the box and found a small wooden box inside. Taking it out, she opened the lid and Bach's minuet in G major started playing. A chess knight was slowly spinning inside and the words _'Bering and Wells, solving puzzles, saving the day.'_ were inscribed on the bottom in Helena's beautiful cursive. "I know it's not exactly like the one you said you had when you were a child but I wanted to add something that reminded you of me."

Myka sat there stunned, staring at the box in her hands. She looked up at Helena, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Helena, this is…" She couldn't find the words to correctly convey how much she loved this, what it meant to her. She took a deep breath and looked at Helena, trying to read her expression. She couldn't find the answer she was looking for so she asked. "Why?"

Helena's expression softened and her hand reached up to cup Myka's cheek. "You know why." Myka opened her mouth to say something but Helena's index finger from her free hand rested against her lips to stop her words. "But I think it's about time I actually say it." She dropped the finger that was resting against Myka's lips and moved her hand to Myka's other cheek, framing her face and making Myka look directly at her. "I love you."

Myka smiled and tried to hold back a sob that turned into a strangled chuckle. "I've been waiting to hear that ever since you came back from Boone."

She turned her head and placed a light kiss on Helena's right palm. She could feel the other hand moving back to thread through her hair, ending up on the back of her head, fingers playing with the short hairs there, eliciting a groan of pleasure from deep within her throat. "I've been waiting to say it ever since you held onto me when I used my grappler to save us. Perhaps if I had, things would've been different."

Myka curled her fingers around Helena's hand on her cheek and kissed it again before bringing it down to her lap. "Perhaps… But we're here now, and everything else that happened before doesn't matter anymore. I don't love you despite what happened. I love you because of what you did afterward. I love you because I know why you did it and how much it took from you, and I love you because I know how far you've come since then."

Helena's look full of adoration and gratefulness made Myka's heart soar. She knew they still had a long way to go but, for now, knowing Helena loved her and that she was learning to forgive herself for what she'd done in the past was enough for her.


End file.
